說中文孩童語音紀錄形式本質之探討

Syllabic or Subsyllabic: The Nature of Representation in Chinese-speaking Children

長久以來孩童字彙一直被認為以音素形式存在於心理字典中，近來研究卻顯示，孩童的語音紀錄形式並非一成不變，一開始就以音素形式存在，而是從音節形式漸漸發展到較小的音素單位。但中文的音節結構十分簡單，在此情況下，說中文孩童的語音紀錄形式，是否也會由音節轉換為音素？本研究中，以中文為母語的孩童每次記憶三個無意義的雙音節字。錯誤分析( error analysis )顯示：（一）孩童較常犯的記憶錯誤，是將原始刺激字串中的音素重新組合，而非把整個音節位置放錯，可見音節在中文的心理操作中，並非完整不可分割的單位；（二）原始刺激字串的聲調結構不因音節的內容而改變，顯示聲調與音節在中文裡並非緊密相結；（三）孩童在低年級階段語音記錄形式之發展尚在進行中， 由較完整的音節單位分割至較小的音素單位。

It has long been assumed that children's early words are represented at a phonemic level. However, evidence is showing that phonological representations • undergo growth and change, from the more holistic syllabic units to the more segmental, discrete phonemic units. Given that Chinese is a syllabic language with very simple syllabic structure, the question is whether the phonological representations of Chinese-speaking children undergo similar change as that found in other languages. In this study, Chinese-speaking children were given lists of three bisyllabic nonwords for recall. Analyses of children's memory errors showed that errors of recombining consonants and vowels available in the stimulus strings were proportionally more than errors of misordering entire syllables, suggesting that the syllable is not an intact processing unit in memory. The suggestion was reinforced by the findings that the tone structures of the stimulus strings were mostly preserved on recall even when the segmental content was changed. There was also an indication that phonological representations became even more segmental and less syllabic in early grades.